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Thursday, November 1, 2012

Cat is out of Bag

NEW GAME NAME HAS BEEN REVEALED!

Exciting new development! Thanks to several sources, you can see the scoop here on Z2's new game that is currently in beta testing. METALSTORM ACES. For some reason, Z2 has placed this game in the App Store in some zones (I can't see it yet but many can). It is even being advertised in some of the pop-up coin videos in MSWM as you can see in the picts. My first impression: looks alot like SGAS, but is it just me or do the graphics look pretty basic - like early generation Nintendo? The youtube videos might not represent the experience very well, so I will withhold judgement. We will see! Game is being tested in Canada and Netherlands right now but nowhere else (limited users). I will post more info as I receive it!

Aces is nothing like Wingman...Short comment on my experience with playing the game so far:

Positive:-looks different but good, much detail-smooth playing-more challenging but that's probably due to getting used to a new plane-same controls as in Wingman-big worlds!

Negative-Stupid fuel system as in CSR Racing-weird upgrading system without a way to bypass paying real money... At least so it seems.- doesn't feel as natural as Wingman-less realism-hard to see targets on iPhone-total new way of displaying attributes, what does 36 damage mean? Is that a lot?

In the comment above I haven't stressed enough that to me it looks like Z2live is trying to squeeze maximum money from this game. Indeed it feels a lot like SGAS, but al least that game gives you a complete package for a fixed price!Another big change in playing style is that braking now actually costs energy instead of charing it back up.I'll keep you posted,

Remember, energy is the ability to do work... not just electrical power. Also, planes do use electrical energy all over the place. How else do you think they open and close their airbrakes? Magic?I think I'm going with Ace on this one; it would take energy to decelerate. Maybe not a hugely appreciable amount (I don't know much about fighter jets, but I'm pretty sure electrical energy needed on a plane is generated by the engines, which might mean that there's plenty of it when the plane is flying), but still some.

All I wanted was more maps and campaigns, not a whole new game. I agree that the characters look very cheesy and the graphics do not look impressive. What was so difficult in improving MSW where a new game was needed?

Durant, Vargas, and Copperhead were anime characters, too, but they were just avatars speaking during campaign missions.

These new characters are just more apparent and take up more real estate within the game, making it seem more cartoon-like.

The game is ok. I like how the levels now have more obstacles and terrain, like skyscrapers and larger mountains to run from missles. You can also enemy destroy missles with your cannon fire (I don't think this can be done in MSW... I just dodge).

The sound effects in the game are more realistic, in that you hear the bullets hitting your ship when you are hit.

Further, you can see the remaining health below each enemy target you are nearby.

The targets are harder to see on an iPhone. The game isn't optimized for the iPhone 5's larger screen like MSW.

Lastly, you are given "fuel tanks" to play the game. Each campaign mission uses 2 fuel tanks. Survivor also uses 2 fuel tanks. Versus uses 1, but I haven't been able to find an opponent to actually try Versus. I guess the game is too new. These tanks regenerate every 10 minutes or so. I guess this is the equivalent of having to wait 7 hours to re-do a completed campaign mission to obtain rewards.

So is this the Beta people have been secretly testing, or is this a new game altogether that is separate from MSW? I have been saving my blue coins and credits for planes and have been chugging away in my fully upgraded Wraith waiting for a worthwhile plane to buy and upgrade...

Guys the game is not 100% done yet! All what we got for now is the LITE version... WAit till the full version comes out.They promise a 2vs2 mode. No more paid to win, it's all about pure skills now. All the upgrades can be earned and install/uninstalled to a different planes. So more off a modification upgrades before you go to battle and what's best for your flying style! As for now z2 are still fixing some bugs and glitches on the game they want our comments and feed backs on how to improve the game. The beta tester players and the lite version players are not they same!

If they want our comments, let us use the same planes we have in MSW. I don't care for a new game or to spend my real money on another game. I spent enough money on MSW to watch it become obsolete to this one. It's stupid.

You people have to try C.H.A.O.S- it is a great helicopter action/simulation game. It features dozens of helicopters, dozens of missions, dozens of customizations. And its free! It is truly a great game- unlike metalstorm wingman- which is where players buy their victory, where updates make the game worse and worse, and where nothing but frustration is constructed... Missions include attacking radar stations, practice firing at balloons in limited time, flying through loops in limited time, defending oil rigs, dogfighting other helicopters, and much more.

You have to try it!- just spent the entire afternoon playing this game : )

Huh, this is certainly interesting. I'm a little nonplussed that they aren't putting in realistic controls like SGAS has, but I'm still intrigued by the videos. Those maps look pretty cool; I like the different rock formations and structures. It looks like some textures, particularly the water, are lacking in detail, but hey, it's still under development. As for the freemium problem, I really hope they just make the game cost a few bucks instead of milking you continuously for money, but that little popup at the end of the first video which said "You don't have enough fuel! Would you like to see ways to get more fuel?" didn't bode well at all.Z2 really disappointed me with MSWM, but I'll try to keep an open mind with this game. I very much doubt at the moment that it'll replace SGAS for me, but I'll probably still give it a try.

...Did anyone notice that the music in the second video was the menu music from Galaxy on Fire 2 (another iOS game I play a lot)?

Oh cool, another GOF2 person! I've finished the Supernova storyline long ago, and I have at least 100 of every commodity and at least one of everything else (including all the ships) stored at my Kaamo club. Needless to say, I've been playing a lot... I know this isn't really the place to discuss it, but the secret to transporting volatile cargo is to use a good cloak and/or jump to a different planet if you come up against hostiles in a system.

Hope there are still planes of the week... I was hoping they would try to combat the features of SGAS I.e. custom planes, not a turn away to a new sub genre, disappointment, I thought Z2 would have the courage to battle it out, nice to see a YF-23 though. Rant over!

Having played Aces for a few days now, I must say its actually a refreshing change without losing the MSW feel.At first the jet that I jumped into was very sluggish and not much fun, but now after playing a while its starting to grow on me.

Apart from the good graphics, the biggest change I feel is probably the way the planes are categorized, or lack of categories as in MSW. Most base planes are quite close in terms of stats. You specialize the stats by choosing from a wide range of upgrades so this allows you to build a weapons, agility, defensive plane or any hybrid between them. Also you are not stuck to the selection you make, which is great so you can test different builds to see which one is more fun. Just uninstall a component and install another one. The uninstalled componenet remains available if you want to go back.

As you level up the base planes improve in stats slightly, and the higher level planes get more slots where additional components can be installed. Again more choises to improve the set-up and more power from number of allowed improvements. Of course as you level up the available components get stronger so the specialization of the aircraft gets more emphasis.

Terrain is also much improved with real obstacles that can be used for fun flying or avoiding missiles for example. Especially fun to weave in between buildings/obstacles braking missile lock in pvp. Although barrel-rolling into a building in close quarters can hurt.

Annoyances:Fuel - you start with 5 bars of fuel, 2 used for missions and 1 for pvp. You are awarded 1 more every 12 minutes so you are faced with downtime. Ok, during this wait you will probably spend time comparing component stats for the next upgrade so the downtime is not as bad as it sounds.

Components - also have material costs (random drops from playing from what i can tell) for some reason i didnt notice an inventory of components so a few times i spent currency to buy a blueprint for a new component only to notice i dont have the mats to build it after purchase....grrrr. not a major issue as currency comes relatively fast by playing, but still annoying. oh and higher level items appear to have more rare mat requirements so its not so easy to just buy the highest level component when it becomes available to your level. for example, my lvl 21 jet has components with lvls between 10-20 due to lack of materials to build the more advanced parts. Just puts another spin on the upgrade path that i find quite fun actually.

Building components - after getting a blueprint and mats for it, you need to build it prior to installing. the building of the component takes time. a few mins for a low lvl item but at lvl 20 you are looking at 2 hours for some. Ok, this downtime can be negated by using the equivalent of blue coins with a cost based on how many minutes there is left on the building process. during this build time your plane cant be used so you have to use another one if you have.

Other observationsPVP - havent done much, maybe 15 matches so im no guru on this. in general i like it, circling matches dont seem that effective for me and i seem to have more success with bull-runs, but maybe that is due to the stats of my jet. Again, the terrain can be used to spice things up.

Energy - now gets used up for slowing down on top of other actions so has to be managed better. I like the change as it adds a level of strategy to the playstyle as its used up very fast if abused.

just a small addition.'blue coins' can be used also for buying component materials, currency, more fuel, and jets that are unavailable to your level to a certain extent. so no downtime if you have the means.

Well, a whole new game? That's nice for some things and very bad for others. They should've just added this new things to MSW changing its name to MSA but probably Z2 is so greedy they want us to spend again all the money we spent on MSW and maybe even more. I will give it a try anyway and I'll try to find a way to get free coins, and if the game will become like MSW, I will just delete it as a lot of people is doing with Wingman (I know personally some guys that did it after playing only a bit).

Yep, delete and switch to SGAS, which is the MUCH BETTER game!! If I need japanese-style cartoons, I go and get me some Mangas. Z2, you totally suck. Instead of improving MSWM you try to get more money out of me by releasing a new game, which looks really fucked up. Maybe some 7 years old children like this stupid look.

Everyone: Make SGAS, what it really deserves...the most played jet-fighter-game in the appstore. Like I said before, it already IS THE BEST!!!

Hey MetalstormForever, you said up there on one of the screenshots that it looked like there were two types of missiles like in SGAS. I'm pretty sure that second button is cannons, not multitarget missiles. Just saying.